Some Free Software

A Guide To Free Software

This page is meant to serve as a guide to free (and almost
free) software.
For those unfamiliar with the concept of free software, one
of the first thoughts might be "Sure, you get what you pay
for...". In the case of free software, this is not true.
There are numerous free software packages maintained by
people who do it for the love of the science. There are also
numerous free software packages maintained by universities
and various educational facilities. There are even free
software packages maintained by non-profit organizations set
up for the purpose of creating, maintaining, and distributing
free software (the most important of these is the Free
Software Foundation headquartered right in Cambridge;
their site is a good visit with lots of information on the
principle of free and open
source software). In all of these cases free software
packages are often better than similar commercial versions
costing hundreds of dollars. In most cases the maintainers of
free software are also users,
so they have good reason to keep the software bug
free. The next question might be "Why haven't I heard of them
before?" The answer is that since they are free, they don't
spend money on advertising -- it is not a reflection on their
quality.

In any case, the Internet
is full of freeware,
shareware,
and software that is available for just the cost of the
media, shipping, & handling. Other variants exist, too;
some software authors provide their software freely but
request that users make a donation to a particular charity.
Other authors just request that users send them a postcard or
a coin from their local area. Other variants (like crippleware
& nagware)
also exist.

Browsers

One of the most useful things to put on any machine is a
browser. After
all, much of the documentation for free software is available
online on the web!
Fortunately, there is a bevy of free browsers available.

HotJava

HotJava runs on Windows '95 / '98, Windows NT, Mac OS,
Solaris, and pretty much any other computer with a
Java virtual machine. Prior to being end-of-lifed, it
offered the most advanced Java support of all the
browsers.
See also:
http://java.sun.com/products/hotjava/

More coming soon...

The above list should get you started. More will be coming
soon; we'll be adding in some games plus a few general sites
offering all manner of software. What else would you like to
see? Don't be afraid to let us
know and we'll try and add it to the list.